Electric polisher for smooth vertical walls,such as window glass



March 24, 1970 E. CARRARO 7 3,501,798

ELECTRIC POLISHE OR SMOOTH VERTICAL WALLS, SUCH wmnow GLASS Filed pril9. 1968 s Sheets-Sheet 1 6 g P 3%?91 r a March 24, 1970 E. CARRARO3,501,798

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5 Sheets-Sheet 2 ELECTRIC POLISHER FOR SMOOTH VERTICAL WALLS,

AS WINDOW GLASS Filed April 9, 1968 March 24, 1970 E. CARR/ARC 3,501,798

ELECTRIC POLISHER FOR SMOOTH VERTICAL WALLS, SUCH AS WINDOW GLASS FiledApril 9, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 3 no 2 z 4 25 103 United States Patent3,501,798 ELECTRIC POLISHER FOR SMOOTH VERTICAL WALLS, SUCH AS WINDOWGLASS Ennio Carraro, Via Roma 305,

. 30038 Spinea, Venice, Italy Filed Apr. 9, 1968, Ser. No. 719,946Claims priority, applicatilo/n6 Italy, Apr. 15, 1967,

Int. Cl. A471 7/02, 1 /02; A46b 13/04 US. Cl. 15-320 9 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to an electric window glasspolisher i.e. an appliance which is particularly useful for cleaning andpolishing smooth plane surfaces, and particularly vertical surfaces,such as window glass.

The object of the invention is to provide a light-weight electricpolisher of smooth vertical surfaces provided with a hood and aperipheral yieldable skirt tightly adhering against the surfaces to bepolished. Said polisher, which will be briefly called window glasspolisher is a light-weight polisher adapted to be readily shifted alongplane vertical glass surfaces to be cleaned and polished by the combinedaction of rotating brushes and of a cleansing liquid, means beingprovided for spraying the liquid against the walls to be polished,preventing its downfiowing, removing the sprayed liquid from the cleanedwall, whirling same in the air enclosed under said hod and sucking suchpolluted air, if necessary after having comminuted the liquid dropletsand subjected same to the action of a heater for transforming the liquidinto vapor, before discharging same outside of the apparatus by blowingsame off through an outlet opening of said hood.

The invention will be better understood from the following specificationof a preferred embodiment of the apparatus, which will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatical top plan view with parts in section of awindow glass polisher according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the same polisher, without cover or hood;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section on line IIIIII of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical section on line IV-IV of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal section on line VV of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged section through the lower brushing and packingskirt;

FIGURE 7 is a vertical section through one of the rotating brushes andFIGURE 8 is a perspective view of one of the brushes, dismounted fromthe apparatus.

The window glass polisher as shown in the drawings comprises a casing 1composed of a base plate 2 and hood or cover 3 fastened thereto. To saidcasing a tubular handle stick 4 is swingably fastened by means of itsuCe forked ends 5 to two side pivots 6 mounted onto the hood 3 (see FIG.1). Stick 4 is preferably composed of a plurality of tubular sectionsfastened together.

The casing 1 is provided at its outer edge with a projecting elasticallyyielding striping and packing skirt 7 which extends along the wholeperiphery of the casing and is composed of an outer felt brim or lap 107and of an inner layer of brush filaments 207 (see FIG. 6). Said packingskirt 7 is clamped between two superposed border sections 103 and 103 ofthe hood 3.

In the base plate 2 five shafts 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are rotatablymounted so as to project downwardly and carry at their projecting endseach a substantially cylindrical brush 13. Said shafts are rotated by anelectric motor 14 which through a speed-down gear 15, 16 drives thecentral brush shaft 8 onto which two superposed pulleys 108 and 208 arekeyed which through a pair of driving belts 17 and 18 drive each a pairof pulleys 109-110 and 111- .112 fastened onto the brush-carrying shafts9-10 and 11-12.

Upon the central shaft 8 there is mounted the blade rotor 19 of asuction fan 20, the outlet of which is connected to an opening 21 in thehood and it thus open to the outer air. The suction side of said suctionfan 20 is connected through a pair of suction ducts 22 with a pair ofsuction openings 23 provided in the base plate 2. In each duct 2 a dropbreaking strainer 24 and an adjoining electric resistance 25 aremounted.

Within the casing 1 a tank 45 for a cleansing liquid is mounted, whichthrough a suction duct 26 is connected with a compressed-air spraynozzle 27 mounted onto the lower side of plate 2. Said cleansing liquidmay be filled into the tank through a cap-closed neck 28. Upon brushshaft 10 and above the pulley an air blower 29 is mounted, the casing129 of which is fastened to the base plate 2 by means of a stirrup 30,while the rotor 229 is fastened to an upper extension of shaft 10. Thepressure side of pump 29 is connected to nozzle 27 through duct 31 andis connected by means of a branch hose 32 with a pressure air outlet 33provided in the stick 4, as clearly shown in FIGURES 1 and 2.

Brushes 13 are dismountably fastened to the ends of brush shafts 8-12.For this purpose said brushes are mounted in a holder 34 provided with ahub 35 provided with a recess having a non-circular cross section (inprac tice, the recess has two opposite flat walls) which is fitted ontoa correspondingly shaped end 37 of the brush shaft 8 (see FIGURES 7 and8). The brush holder 34 is also provided with a pair of diametricallyopposite snap teeth 36 which, when the brush holder 34 is fitted ontoits shaft, snap into a peripheral groove 38 of the shaft and thusprevent any axial slipping of the brushes. The teeth, however, haverounded ridges, so that they can come out of groove 38, when an adequatepull is exerted on the brush holder 34. The end of shaft 8 isfrusto-oonical for rendering the fitting of the burst holder easy andfor centering purposes. I

The electric wires 39 which feed the motor 14 and the electric heatingresistances 25 pass through one of the fork arms of the stick and leadto a switch 40 on the stick 4.

In operation, the glass polisher, which is constructed very light, ispressed against the glass to be cleaned and polished, as shown in FIGURE4, so that the peripheral skirt 7 and the brushes 13 tightly adhere onthe glass and with the motor 14 on, the appliance is guided along thewindow glasses to be cleaned and at the same time the cleansing liquidfrom tank 45 is sprayed against the glass surface from time to time,under the control of the operator. Thus, due to the provision of theperipheral felt skirt 7 reinforced by a row of brush filaments, a closedchamher is formed under the hood. It is to be noted that an air outlet33, FIG. 1, is provided on the stick. When this outlet is open, the airunder pressure generated by the constantly operated air blower 29 isblown off through branch duct 32 and outlet 33 in the open air and noliquid is pumped from tank 45. Whenever is desired to spray some liquidagainst the glass walls, the operator closes the air outlet 33 with afinger and thus the whole compressed air generated by the blower ispumped through duct 31 and spray nozzle 27 and the cleansing liquid issucked from the tank and sprayed against the window glass 41 or likesmooth wall.

It is to be noted that, due to the provision of the peripheral feltskirt 7, when this adheres against a flat smooth surface, also due tothe pressure of the outside air while the interior is under suction ofsuction pump 20, a closed chamber is formed under the hood 3, so thatthe spray liquid is prevented from flowing out along the glass walls. Atthe same time the cleansing liquid whirled into the air under the hoodby the rotating brushes is sucked by the suction fan 20 through openings22 and is discharged into the open air through outlet 21, FIG. 1. On itsway to this outlet, the droplets in the air pass in proximity of theelectric heatin g resistances 25 fitted within ducts 22 and thus thewhole liquid is vaporized, whereby the larger droplets are comminuted bypassing through wire netting 24 before being vaporized by the heat. Inthis manner liquid is prevented from accumulating under the hood 3.

I claim:

1. Electric cleaner and polisher having an operating stick, particularlyfor polishing smooth walls, such as window glass and the like,comprising a plate, a hood having an opening at its top, fastened abovesaid plate and provided with a circumferential skirt of felt and brushfilaments extending downwardly beyond said plate and adapted to adherewith a tight fit against the smooth walls; an electric motor providedwith a motor shaft under said hood; a central vertical shaft; astep-down gear connecting said motor shaft to said central verticalshaft; a plurality of peripheral vertical shafts around said centralvertical shaft; a rotary brush mounted to each vertical shaft, beneathsaid plate; means on said central shaft for driving each of saidperipheral shafts; a suction fan under said top opening of the hood anddischarging therethrough polluted air from below the hood; means fordriving said suction fan from said motor shaft; a blower; means fordriving said blower from one of the peripheral vertical shafts; a liquidtank; at least one spray nozzle under said plate; means connected to theblower for conveying the liquid from said tank to said spray nozzle andfor spraying same against the surface to be polished, and ductsconnected to the suction side of said fan and means in said ducts forcomminuting and vaporizing liquid particles whirled around in the airunder the hood by the combined action of said rotating brushes and ofsaid suction fan, which thereafter sucks and ejects the air containingthe vaporized cleansing liquid through said outlet opening at the hoodtop.

2. An electric polisher for smooth vertical walls according to claim 1,by which the said step-down gear is a worm and worm wheel gear.

3. An electric polisher for smooth vertical walls according to claim 1by which said central vertical shaft is provided with superposed beltpulleys and said peripheral vertical shafts are provided with beltpulleys at the height of either belt pulley of said central shaft, and atransmission belt drivingly connecting one of the pulleys on the centralvertical shaft with one pulley on at least one of the peripheral shafts.

4. An electric polisher for smooth vertical walls according to claim 1by which said central vertical shaft is provided with superposed beltpulleys and said peripheral vertical shafts are provided with beltpulleys at the height of either belt pulley of said central shaft, and atransmission belt drivingly connecting one of the pulleys on the centralvertical shaft with two parallel pulleys on two peripheral verticalshafts.

5. An electric polisher for smooth vertical walls according to claim 1,by which the said suction fan is mounted directly upon one of thevertical shafts.

6. An electric polisher for smooth vertical walls according to claim 1,by which the said suction fan is mounted directly upon one of thevertical shafts and the said blower is mounted directly upon anothervertical shaft.

7. An electric polisher for smooth vertical walls according to claim 1,by which the said suction fan is mounted directly upon one of thevertical shafts and the said blower is mounted directly upon anothervertical shaft; a duct connected to the pressure side of said blower; abranch of said duct opening to the exterior in the operating stick, sothat said opening may be closed by means of a finger the other branchbeing connected to said spray nozzle and a duct for feeding a cleansingliquid to said spray nozzle.

8. An electric polisher according to claim 1 in which the means in saidducts for comminuting and vaporizing the droplets suspended in the aircomprise a wire net strainer and an electric heating resistance inproximity to said strainer.

9. An electric polisher according to claim 1, in which the lower ends ofsaid vertical shafts project below said plate and are provided with agroove and non-circular ends, while the brushes are provided with hubshaving correspondingly non-circular recesses and snapping meanspermitting detachable fastening said brushes under said shafts.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 5/1933 Great Britain. 1/1913 France.

ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner

